Juno News - April 18, 2023


Equipping the next generation of conservative leaders (ft. Jamil Jivani)


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

178.25198

Word Count

930

Sentence Count

54

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I'm here at the Canada Strong and Free Network's 2023 conference with its president, Jamil Javani,
00:00:08.900 somebody who's well known in Canada's conservative movement.
00:00:11.900 Last year, in June, Jamil became the new president.
00:00:15.540 And one of the things that he has done since he's taken over is several initiatives to engage young conservatives,
00:00:25.080 which I think is very important as a young person.
00:00:28.080 And so I thought today we could discuss some of these things.
00:00:32.060 But first of all, for those who maybe don't know the Canada Strong and Free Network, Jamil,
00:00:36.700 can you maybe tell us a bit about this organization and why this conference is so important?
00:00:41.420 Yeah, well, the organization was started 15 years ago.
00:00:44.400 One of its key founders was Preston Manning.
00:00:47.280 And it's really been an important way for conservatives to connect with each other,
00:00:51.220 build a community, build relationships outside of political parties.
00:00:54.520 A lot of Canadians would identify as conservative on certain issues, on their political views,
00:01:00.280 but might not feel like a political party represents them every single time.
00:01:04.280 And that's why we create an opportunity for us to connect based on our beliefs,
00:01:07.820 not necessarily based on our party affiliation.
00:01:10.380 Right.
00:01:11.360 Why, for you, was it important to take on these new initiatives that CSFN had not done before for young conservatives,
00:01:17.860 such as the Conservative Values Tomorrow program?
00:01:19.880 Well, one, I mean, if conservative, you know, the conservative movement wants to have a future,
00:01:24.940 it has to be relevant to millennials and Gen Zers.
00:01:27.880 But also, I think there's a lot of wisdom in past generations.
00:01:31.660 So we think of people like Stephen Harper, like Preston Manning, and that wisdom needs to live on.
00:01:36.680 And so we want to build the generational connection so that young people can learn from the past
00:01:41.340 and lead the country in a better direction.
00:01:43.640 So, Fleet, can you tell me more a bit about the conservative values tomorrow?
00:01:47.000 We've heard a lot about this at the conference.
00:01:49.580 What's the program and what's its purpose?
00:01:53.180 Well, we call it a leadership development program.
00:01:55.240 What we do is we take a relatively small number, about 12 to 15 young conservatives from across the country under the age of 30,
00:02:02.940 many of whom are still students, and we mentor them.
00:02:05.800 We match them up with people who have experience in the areas of public policy that they're also excited about.
00:02:11.620 And we try to, you know, build a pathway of what we would call a talent development, right?
00:02:16.700 Make sure that you're supported in becoming an expert, make sure you build a network, make sure you feel encouraged,
00:02:22.020 and try to put you in a position to make a difference for the country.
00:02:24.580 This is the first year we've done it.
00:02:25.740 We intend to do another cohort in the spring, and it's the thing I'm most excited about in this job, to be honest.
00:02:32.140 For sure, and I was one of the people in the first cohort, and it was definitely a great experience.
00:02:37.980 For anybody that's watching that may be interested, how and when can they apply?
00:02:43.160 Well, just stay tuned on our website, canadastrongandfree.network.
00:02:47.160 Sign up for our email listserv, and we'll be announcing the new application round at some point in the spring.
00:02:52.420 If you're under 30 and you're a conservative, please join us.
00:02:55.240 We'd love to have you.
00:02:55.960 Wonderful.
00:02:56.920 I did want to ask, too, an organization in the U.S. that's done quite a good job at mobilizing young people is DreamPoint USA.
00:03:03.180 They have a lot of campus work, and then they have these huge conferences.
00:03:07.080 Has CSFN considered maybe doing campus networks?
00:03:10.440 Because from what I hear, a lot of partisan campus clubs just are not doing that job.
00:03:16.180 Yeah, there are some very good ones, and we are happy to work with them.
00:03:18.880 We do recognize there does need to be more of a conservative movement presence on campuses, and it's something we want to do.
00:03:25.360 Our hope is by doing this mentorship work, we're going to build out our network of students and let them lead the way.
00:03:30.840 Show us how do we be more relevant to university students, to college students.
00:03:35.360 Are you hopeful?
00:03:36.280 Because while there are young conservatives, there's also a lot of young, woke leftists who are having a lot of influence in universities, for example.
00:03:44.380 They just got a guest lecturer fired in George Brown College because she quoted something that had the N word in it, for example.
00:03:51.440 They replaced women with WOMX.
00:03:55.960 Are you optimistic about the future of the younger generation, despite the fact that there's a lot of wokeness?
00:04:02.400 Well, look, I think I'm meeting a lot of young people who are rebels, who are people who want to push back on the institutions and are not serving their generation well.
00:04:11.620 And those institutions are all woke.
00:04:13.060 So I think young people are seeing that wokeness is failing them, and it's just a matter of time before more of them say, you know what, where can I go to have my voice heard?
00:04:22.120 And they're going to see that organizations like ours are where you can go.
00:04:25.200 So we're going to beat wokeness.
00:04:27.200 It might take more time than we'd like, but I'm very confident that, you know, it's just a matter of time before we're the victors.
00:04:32.340 Right, and I'm confident we will beat wokeness, too.
00:04:35.000 Jamil Devani, it's always a pleasure.
00:04:36.640 Thank you.
00:04:37.120 Thank you, Ali.
00:04:37.680 Appreciate it.
00:04:38.220 Thank you.
00:04:38.500 Thank you, Ali.
00:04:39.000 Appreciate it.
00:04:43.060 Thank you.